1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a directional indicator.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, vehicles are provided with a directional indicator for indicating a driver's intended traveling direction of a vehicle to the other people by lighting indicator lamps provided on front and rear of the vehicle by operating a turn signal lever provided in a vicinity of a steering wheel when, e.g., turning right or left or changing to the next lane.
A directional indicator is often provided with a turn switch for turning on the indicator lamp of the traveling direction of the vehicle by operating a turn signal lever in a direction corresponding to the traveling direction thereof, and a cancellation mechanism for automatically cancelling an indication by returning the turn signal lever to the original position when a steering wheel is pivoted in a direction opposite to an operating direction of the turn signal lever over a predetermined angle and returns. In such a directional indicator, when a turn signal lever is operated in a direction corresponding to a traveling direction of a vehicle and a switch is turned on, an indicator lamp of the traveling direction is lit. Then, when a steering wheel is returned to a straight-ahead position after finishing the turning of the vehicle, the turn signal lever returns to an original position by a cancellation mechanism and an indicator lamp is turned off.
On the other hand, a vehicle directional indicator has been proposed which includes an indicator lamp for informing a steering direction of a vehicle, a direction-indicating means for lighting the above-mentioned indicator lamp by an input operation, a light extinction means for turning off the lit indicator lamp, wherein the above-mentioned light extinction means includes a first light extinction means for turning off the indicator lamp by detecting the steering direction of the vehicle and outputting a light extinction signal when the steering direction is changed to a direction opposite to the direction inputted by the direction-indicating means and a second light extinction means for turning off the indicator lamp by outputting a light extinction signal after a predetermined time from the moment of the input by the direction-indicating means (see JP-A 2000-355246). The direction-indicating means in which the turn cancellation control is carried out in an auto mode has a structure for automatically returning to a neutral state after tilting right or left by the input operation of the turn signal lever (a momentary switch).
According to the above-mentioned directional indicator of JP-A 2000-355246, since the direction-indicating means has a structure for automatically returning, an operation for manually returning the direction-indicating means is not necessary, it is possible to omit operation steps of the driver, and thus, a driving operation can be safely carried out.
However, according to the directional indicator of JP-A 2000-355246, when the turn cancellation control is carried out in an auto mode in all cases, it is necessary to carry out the turn cancellation control at an optimal timing. Thus, there is a problem that it is necessary to carry out a precise control based on information about road condition or traffic situation of a driving destination, thereby a high cost system.